Transposition-chart.



PATENTED JAN. 6,l 1903.

No. 718,065. Y

Lpo. WOODS.

10N RT.'

y TRANSP APPLICATION FILED SBP 901. NEWBD JUNE 16, 1902.

2 BHBTS-SHEET 1-.

N0 MODEL.

mi AWE/w01@ No. 718,065. PATENTED JAN. 6, 1903.

L. O. WOODS. i TRANSPOSITION CHART.

APPLICATION FILED sE-PT. 3, 1901. RENBWBD JUNE 1e, 1902.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIN O. WOODS, OF STILLWATER, OKLAHOMA TERRITORY.

TRANSPOSITION-CHART.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,065, dated January6, 1903.

Application iiled September 3, 1901. Renewed .Tune 16, 1902. Serial No.111,972. (No model.)

To all whom. it 71u43/ concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIN O. WOODS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Stillwater, in the county of Payne, Territory of Oklahoma,have invented certain new and useful Improvements inTransposition-Oharts; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improve ments intransposition-charts, and has for its object to produce such a chart bywhich a beginner in music can easily transpose the scale from one key toanother for instrumental or vocal musicv by mechanical means.

Afurther object of my invention is to produce such a chart of a simpleand cheap construction, Which will be durable and easily operated.

With the above and other objects in view my invention consists in thenovel details of construction and combination of parts to be clearlydescribed in the following speciicat-ion and fully set forth in theclaims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like characters ofreference indicate similar parts throughout, Figure l is a perspectiveview of a piano having my improved transposition-chart mounted thereon.Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the obverse side of my invention. Fig. 3is a transverse sectional view thereof. Fig. 4. is a front elevation ofthe base alone. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the sharp and flat slide.Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the obverse side of the sleeve. Fig. 7 isa front elevation of the obverse side of the chart complete. Fig. 8 is afront elevation of the reverse side of the base. Fig. 9 is a frontelevation of the chord-slide, and Fig. l0 is a front elevation of thereverse side of the sleeve.

In the drawings, A represents a base or long flat rodhaving projectingpins B on its ends,by whichit may be attached to apiano or organ in anysuitable manner just above'the keyboard, as clearly shown in Fig. l. Asleeve C, having a number of perfor-ations on each side, fits over thebase A and is slidable thereon. A

sharp and flat slideD and a chord-slide E are slidably held within thesleeve C against the obverse and reverse sides of the base A,respectively. The obverse side of the base has printed thereon adoublegreat sta-that is, a great staff, with an additional staff above andbelow-and written thereon is the ascending chromatic scale in the key ofC-natural. The entire scale is divided into measures by bars extendingfrom edge to edge of the base, which bars are so spaced as to correspond to and register with the lines between the respective keys at therear edge of the keyboard of the piano or organ. Inthis scale eachnatural note occupies a bar byv itself, and each intermediate half-toneis duplicated Within a single bar by being written in both its forms-as,for instance, the half-tone between F and G is represented by bothF-sharp and G-flat. Throughout the scale each note is provided with itscorresponding letter in vertical alinement therewith, either above orbelow, according to convenience, and the letters of the half-tones arewritten on a diiferent horizontal line to the others to avoid confusion.Y

The slide D and obverse side of the sleeve C are provided with slots Zand F, respectively, which are adapted to register and eX- pose to viewa portion of the notes on the scale. The slots F are regularly spaced,eX- cept between the third and fourth, seventh and eighth, tenth andeleventh, fourteenth and fteenth, and so on, corresponding to thelocation of the half-tones in the natural scale. The slots Z arearranged in a similar manner and are provided with lateral extensions attheir lower ends. Just beneath the slots F there are printed the namesof the notes of the scale, Do, Re, ML Fa, dac. Above one of these slotsF, marked Do, is printed a hand pointing at such slot with the words Keyletter indicator. Likewise above one of the slots marked Fa there isprinted a hand with the words Flat indicator,7 and above one marked Siis printed the hand marked Sharp indicator. Secured to each end of theslide D is a finger-loop G, by which the side slide is adapted to beoperated,and these finger-loops are also attached to the sleeve C tolimit the extent of the movement of slide D. At the upper left-handcorner of the sleeve is a hand pointing to that iinger-loop marked Pullfor Sharps, and at iOO the other end is a similar hand marked 1)111'1for dats.

The chart as thus far described is used in the following manner: In theabsence of any sharps or Hats at the beginning or signature of the musicslide the sleeve over the base until the key-letter indicator points tothe letter C, and the slide D being in an intermediate position, so thatits slots Z are clearly cxposed through the slots F, the notes and theirletters shown through the slots are those of the key of C namelyu C, cD, :s E, :c F577 c; G, A, andB-which arethen properly named on thesleeve, as Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, and Si. When the signature containssharps, place the sharp-indicator so as to point to the sharp on thescale corresponding to the last sharp in the signature- G-sharp, forinstance-as shown in Fig. 2. Then pull the slide D to the left by thelefthand finger-loop, so that the edges of the slots Z cover the exposedflats and present the scale in the key of three sharps, which is shownby the key-letter indicator to be the key of A, and the notes are againproperly named on the sleeve, as shown in Fig. 2. When flats appear inthe signature of the music, the flat-indicator is placed upon the flaton the scale corresponding to the last flat of the signature and theslide D drawn to the right to cover the exposed Sharps, and the properscale is presented, as before. The reverse side of the baseis dividedthroughoutits length into three horizontal rows of squares, each squareof the first row having the number l printed thereon, the second rownurnber 2, and the third row number 3,and in the lower margin near thecenter of the base the spaces are lettered similarly to the bars of thestaff on the obverse side of the base-that is, D-sharp and E-fiat in thefirst space, E in the second, F in the third, F-sharp and G-iiat in thefourth, and so on. The chordslide E and the reverse side of the sleeve Care provided with perfor-ations H and I, respectively, corresponding inlocation to the rows of squares on the base and are adapted to registerto expose the number of said squares to view. The vertical lines ofthese squares are reproduced on the sleeve, so that after the adjustmenton the obverse side of the chart is completed and the chart reversedthese lines will correspond with the lines between the keys of the pianoor organ, and the keys beneath the perforations exposing like numbers toview will when pressed simultaneously produce chords. Beside theperforations I the sleeve is provided with two narrow horizontal slots Kand L, the former being slightly higher than and to the right of thelatter and having the single word Key printed therebeneath, while thelatter is between the words Relative key. The spaces beneath thevertical lines are numbered from l to 7 consecutively and at theleft-hand end of the sleeve are printed the words For minor chords pull,which refers to the finger-loop M on that end of the slide E, While onthe right-hand end are the words For major chords pull, referring to thecorresponding loop M on that end of the slide E. In the lower margin ofthe sleeve C beneath the slot K is a narrow horizontal slot N, and theperforation to t-he left thereof is extended downward in alinementtherewith and is marked I. The slide E has the words Major and Minorprinted one above the other, so that the word Major will appear throughslot K when the slide E is in one position and the word Minor willappear at slot L when the slide is in another position. In the lowermargin of the slide E beneath the words Major and Minor is a narrowhorizontal slot O to register with slot N and the lower end ofperforation I', respectively. After the chart has been adjusted for thekey in which the music is written in the manner described and isreversed on the pins B and the slide E is drawn to the right, so thatthe word Major appears through the slot K, then all of the keys of thepiano above which like numbers appear through the registering slots Hand I will produce the major chords of the proper key, and by drawingthe slide E to the left, so that the word Minor appears through slot L,the chart indicates the chords of the relative minor key. When inposition to show the chords of the major key, the name of that keyappears through slot N, slot O being in register therewith, and when theparts are in position to show the chords of the relative minor key thename of that key will appear at the lower end of the perforation I', asslot O then registers there. When a division having two letters, asF-sharp and G-flat, is exposed, one or the other of these letters ishidden by the shutter P, which is carried by the slide D and extendsaround the lower edge of the base up to the level of the top of slot Nand is provided with a pair of notches Q, and R, which exactly registerwith perforation l and slot N, respectively, when slide D is in itsintermediate position for the key of C, but which cover one-half of theslot N and lower part of perforation I on either right or left hand sidewhen the slide D is pulled to the right or left for sharps or ats in thesignature, so that only the proper letter of these double-letteredspaces is shown through these places, the other being masked by theshutter P.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

l. In a device of the character described, a base having marked thereona staff containing the chromatic scale, a sleeve slidable on the baseand provided with slots to expose to view some of the notes of thescale, and a slide located between the base and sleeve and provided withslots to register with the slots of the sleeve.

2. In a device of the character described, a base having marked thereona stad contain IOO IIO

IZO

ing a chromatic scale, a sleeve slidable on the base and provided withslots to expose to view some of the notes of the scale, and a slidelocated between the base and the sleeve and provided with slotsregistering with the slots of the sleeve, said slide being adapted to bemoved in one direction to cover the exposed Sharps of the scale and tobe moved in the other direction to cover the exposed flats of the scale.

3. In a device of the character described, a base having marked thereona sta containing a chromatic scale, a sleeve slidable on the base andprovided with slots to expose to view some of the notes of the scale, aslide located between the base and the sleeve and provided with slotsregistering with the slots of the sleeve, and a key-letter indicator, aHat-indicator and a sharp-indicator on the sleeve.

4. In a device of the character described, a base having thereon anumber of rows of marks, the marks in each row being similar but themarks of the several rows being different, a sleeve slidable on the baseand provided with a number of perforations exposing some of the marks ofthe base to view, and a slide located between the base and the sleeveand having a number of perforations to register with the perforations ofthe sleeve and expose some of the marks of the base to view when in oneposition and to expose others of these marks to viewwhen in anotherposition.

5. In a device of the character described, a base having thereon anumber of rows of marks, the marks in each row being similar but themarks of the several rows being different, a sleeve slidable on the baseand provided with a number of perforations exposing some of the marks ofthe base to view, and a slide located between the base and the sleeveand having a number of perforations to register with the perforations ofthe sleeve and expose some of the marks of the base to View when in oneposition and to expose others of these marks to view when in anotherposition, said sleeve having a slot N and perforation I' with which slotO on the slide is adapted to register to expose the name on the base ofthe major key and its relative minor key respectively.

6. In a device of the character described, a

base having marked on its obverse side a staff containing a chromaticscale, a sleeve slidable on the base and provided with slots on itsobverse side to expose to view some of the notes of the scale, a sharpand Iiat slide located between thelsleeve and base on the obverse sidethereof and provided with slots to register with slots of the sleeve,said slide being movable to cover some of the exposed notes, said basehaving on its reverse side a number of rows of marks some of which areadapted to show through the perforations in the reverse side of thesleeve, and a chord-slide located between the sleeve and the reverseside of the base, said chord-slide having perforations to register withperforations of the sleeve to expose some of the marks of the base toview when in one position and to expose others of these marks to viewwhen in another position.

7. In a device of the character described, a base having marked on itsobverse side a staff containing the chromatic scale, a sleeve slidableon the base and provided with slots on its obverse side to expose toview some of the notes of the scale, a sharp and flat slide locatedbetween the sleeve and base on the obverse side thereof and providedwith slots to register With slots of the sleeve, said slide beingmovable to cover some of the exposed notes, said base having on itsreverse side a number of rows of marks some of which are adapted to showthrough perforations in the reverse side of the sleeve, said sleevehaving a slot N and perforation I with which a slot O on the chordslideis adapted to register to expose the name on the base of the major keyand its relative minor key respectively, and a shutter carried bythesharp and flat slide extending beneath the edge of the base to thereverse side thereof and having notches to register with the slot N andperforation I when the sharp and flat slide is in one position and topartially cover these openings when the sharp and iat swlide is inanother position.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LOUIN O. WOODS.

Witnesses:

J. S. WORKMAN, PEARL M. WRIGHT.

